Published 4:00 am, Wednesday, August 20, 1997

A coalition of environmentalists and community groups urged a Bay Area air quality appeals board yesterday to revoke the permit of a local medical waste incinerator, asserting that the East Oakland plant is polluting the neighborhood with toxic emissions.

Their request came during a hearing of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, which in April granted Integrated Environmental Systems a new permit after improved incinerators were installed.

The company is the only commercial medical waste incinerator in California. A company spokesman said the plant is safe and that the amounts of pollutants released are well within standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Company officials will not say how much material is burned at the facility, located at 499 High St. The permit, however, allows the 15-year-old plant to burn up to 1,000 pounds of waste per hour, 24 hours a day, five days a week, in each of its two incinerators.

The coalition is worried about the release of pollutants such as dioxin, a chemical which has been linked to cancer, diabetes, birth defects and other health problems.

"Chemicals and toxic materials released from this facility are undeniably linked to health problems," said Bradley Angel, a spokesman for Greenpeace. "If they want to operate in the community, there needs to be a full public hearing."

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John Barnard, the facility's operations and compliance manager, said the company has spent $5 million in the last three years to upgrade equipment to meet new state and federal EPA standards.

"This is the most state-of-the- art incineration equipment in the world," he said. "Cars and trucks in the Bay Area generate as much as 20,000 times more pollution per year than IES. If you look at the big picture, we're not a significant contributor of pollution."

Critics did not dispute Barnard's assertion that emissions from the incinerators fall within EPA guidelines. They argue, however, that any amount of dioxin release is unacceptable because the chemical builds up in the body over time.

"All of us already carry enough dioxin . . . that places us at or near levels at which human health problems are known to occur," said Pat Costner, a senior scientist with Greenpeace.

Incinerator opponents say the facility could switch to other methods of processing medical waste. They also want a complete environmental study, which has not been required for its various operating permits.

Barnard contends that incineration is the best way to process medical waste received from more than 3,000 hospitals, medical offices and labs. The facility also handles some ship and airplane waste.

The groups challenging the permit include the Sierra Club, People United for a Better Oakland and Communities for a Better Environment.

Since 1990, the facility has been cited for at least 164 violations, most of which occurred before the new incinerators were installed, said Will Taylor, a spokesman for the air quality district.

The air quality hearing board, an independent body that acts as the judicial arm of the air quality district, reached no decision yesterday and is scheduled to hold further hearings.